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Big changes at sailing world champs

Golfers often talk about moving day at big tournaments when some roar into contention and others falter and many were left with a similar impression at the sailing world championships in Aarhus.

Sam Meech is third overall in the Laser. Photo: Sailing Energy / World Sailing.

Sam Meech had what he described as his worst race of the year to finish 34th in the opening race of the Laser fleet but recovered well in the second (7th) and is now third overall.

Josh Junior posted two solid scores (12, 7) in the Finn as others stumbled in the light and patchy winds and climbed four places to third overall. Fellow New Zealander Andy Maloney is not far behind in sixth after winning the second race of the day.

Meech went into the first day of gold fleet racing with the leader's yellow bib but soon found himself in trouble.

He started the first completed race reasonably well - an earlier attempt was abandoned due to a lack of wind - but was badly affected when he slammed into a wave when tacking on the first upwind and couldn't extricate himself as the breeze died. There were periods when it was almost like dodgems as many of the 65 boats converged on the marks and Meech might have wished he was at Rainbows End instead.

"Today was an absolute nightmare," he said. "I think I sailed probably the worst race of my year so far, unfortunately, in that first race. It was just bad timing to have it, especially after all the work I have put in this year. It was raceable, but only just.

"Once we are in gold fleet like this, if you get a bad race you move back in the standings a lot. I think there’s still a lot of racing left to go but it definitely shows how tight the racing is in the Laser fleet.

"I will pray for some more wind tomorrow. I don’t know whether they were putting us through those races just for the TV coverage but some better racing tomorrow would be good."

Meech is now six points behind Australia's Matthew Wearn, who is the only Laser sailor to register scores all in the top 10, and two points behind reigning world champion Pavlos Konties of Cyprus. New Zealand's Tom Saunders is 13th.

Josh Junior had one of the best days of anyone in the Finn fleet. Photo: Sailing Energy / World Sailing.

The Finn is developing into an equally intriguing contest, especially as most of the main protagonists had one bad race today. Even leader Ed Wright of Great Britain couldn't escape the carnage, finishing 43rd in the first race (his discard for his worst score), but he recovered well to finish second in the next.

Junior had one of the best days of anyone and is now eight points off the lead, with Maloney a further nine points back.

"Everyone has a big score so tomorrow it will be all on," Maloney said.

Junior added: "Today was incredibly tough, but I’m very happy. It was a challenging day and people are collecting a lot of points. To get two good ones is good but there’s another day of racing [before the top 10 medal race] and it’s all very close.

"It’s a really good-quality fleet and it’s easy to have a bad race. For us, the secret is to treat every day and every race the same. Doing all those things, hopefully we get good results consistently. That’s the aim."

It's what Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox will be looking to achieve as well after climbing to 11th in the men's 470 and the pair have two more races to qualify for the top 10 medal race. Liv Mackay and Micah Wilkinson are 13th in the Nacra 17 and Sam Bullock 16th in the men's foiling kite.

The 49ers return to action tomorrow with New Zealand having three crews inside the top 14, including Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn in second. Alex Maloney and Molly Meech, who are eighth in the 49erFX but only four points off third, will also feature.

Just like golfers, they will look to make their move.

Results and standings after the sixth day of the sailing world championships in Aarhus, Denmark, overnight (NZ time):